Over the next 24 hours several members of The Sims team began tweeting increasingly bizarre screenshots of their simselves looking somewhat concerning. Sims 4 community manager Kate Olmstead led the charge with this Tweet.

One by one tweets appeared with similar screenshots and messages in the strange font used here. The only team member that appeared immune was SimGuruLyndsay, who appeared to be sporting some fetching headgear.

It all culminated in the release of the trailer below, for a new gamepack called Strangerville, which is being released next week.

The Sims community have been speculating as to the packs contents all day and many predicted it would be somehow related to Strangetown, a much loved neighbourhood from The Sims 2, which brought with it a host of supernatural stories.

It appears that players were correct and Strangeville really is making a reappearance in The Sims 4, or at least something eerily similar.

So what can we expect?

While information is still quite sparse, there is more than enough for us to establish that the pack appears to focus on solving mysteries in a new town called StrangerVille.

On EA’s website there is more information about the pack, which mentions searching for clues and gathering information. It also talks about using technology to get answers. So far, so Area 51.

As well as the trailer, there’s also a comic online which features some of the sims from the trailer. Looking at images from both we can see elements of a military type organization as well as a couple of sims in dark suits and glasses in the style of Men In Black alongside a stereotypical conspiracy theorist.

via ea.com

It appears that the focus is very much story and exploration based, something many simmers will be excited to see.

My first thought is that sims will able to investigate the mystery, likely combining some of the exploration aspects of Jungle Adventure with the detective elements shown in Get To Work’s police career.

In terms of other elements there are new clothes, hair styles, glimpses of the town, and what appear to be trailers or mobile homes. There's also a van with a satellite dish on its roof, no doubt looking for the cause of the chaos.

One thing is for sure: we won’t have to wait long to find out. The Sims 4: StrangerVille releases February 26th for PC and Mac.